By Lauren Michelsen
GCU News Bureau
Grand Canyon University’s thriving STEM Scholars program was honored Monday night at the Peoria Education Foundation’s 11th annual Education Visionary Awards at the Arizona Broadway Theatre in Peoria.
Sarah Boeder, senior vice president of campus operations, was on hand to receive the Community Partner Award, given to GCU for its work with the Peoria Unified School District.
The STEM Scholars program offers high school students the chance to not only have hands-on learning in the STEM fields based out of their own schools but also earn up to a year of tuition-free college credit through dual enrollment.
In addition, GCU offers a cohort class in the summer in which the STEM Scholars can interact and learn in the cadaver labs on campus. The program is “extremely innovative,” Boeder said, “(because) we are educating our neighbors for the jobs of the future.”
The STEM Scholars program is unique in that it reaches out to the community and gives students the opportunity to be inspired and driven by education, Boeder said, adding that while the program is still relatively young, it has been immensely successful in its early stages and shows no signs of slowing down.
“This is bigger than just graduating students, it’s big for the future of America,” she said.
Contact Lauren Michelsen at (602) 639-6703 or [email protected].
